Conveyer



F J. LE ROY CONVEIYER Filed Sept. 11, 194:5 2 sheets-sheet '1 Ava/79702 FRANKLIN J. LEP Y,

Dec. 4,1 1945. x

F. J. LE ROY CONVEYER Filed Sept. 11 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /NVENTOl-' FRANKLIN J. LE ROY,

illy F, FL

Patented Dec. 4, 1945 .CONVEYER Franklin J. Le Roy, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The J eifrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application September 11, 1943, SerialNo. 502,006

8 Claims. (01. 198169) This invention relates to a conveyer and particularly to an elevating type of conveyer having a casing forming enclosing working and return legs. e

An object of the invention is to provide a conveyer of the above-mentioned type in which material which is being elevated in upward direction may be discharged, if desired, at an intermediate position between the feed position and the nor mal discharge osition in the head section.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved mechanism controlling selectively the discharging or non-discharging of material at an intermediate station in an elevating conveyer.

A further object or. the invention is to provide an improved intermediate section for a conveyer particularly adapted to provide for the discharge of material, if desired, or to provide for the continuous conveying of the material therethrough to the head section where it is normally discharged.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations be ing set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a conveyer or elevator incorporating the features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a portion of the intermediate section which constitutes a feature of my invention;

'Fig. 3 is a rear view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a front view taken on the line 4-'4 of Fig. 2, looking in thedirection of the arrows; nd

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, looking upwardly or in the direction of the arrows.

The conveyer 0r elevator of my invention is shown as generally L-shaped, though it is to be understood that various other shapes of conveyer may be employed. Said conveyer includes a casing or housing In which is made up of a plurality of interconnected sections including foot or tail section II, feed section l2, one or more horizontal sections l3, curved section l4, intermediate discharge or special section l5, one or more upright or vertical sections I6, and a head or discharge section ll. Each of the above-mentioned sections is of normal construction and preferably follows the structure of similar sections in the application of Stanley M. Mercier,

or special section [5 which is novel in this device.

The interconnected sections H to IT, inclusive, form a substantially totally enclosing housing and provide a substantially totally enclosing working leg l8 which extends from a feed chute l9 associated with thefeed section I2 to discharge chamber 20 formed in the head section II. This working leg is generally rectangular in shape and thus is provided with four walls. Also extending from the feed section l2 to the head section I! is a return leg 2| which is substantially totally enclosing and is also formed of generally rectangular shape provided with four walls.

Throughout a number of the sections or portions of them, the working leg I8 and the return leg 2| have a common partition. For example, throughout section I6 these two legs have such a common partition. Furthermore, at the top and the bottom, or, in other words, at the two ends, of the intermediate discharge section l5 there is a common partition for the portions of the working leg l8 and return leg 2| provided by this special section, but intermediate these two ends said leg portions are spaced-apart and thus have entirely independent walls. As clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the return leg portion provided by the section I5, is curved outwardly between its two ends. This provides for apparatus hereinafter described more completely.

Traveling through the working leg l8 and returnleg 2| and between a foot sprocket 22 in foot section I I and a, driving head sprocket 23' in head section II, is a conveying mechanism in the form of an endless draft chain 24 which is provided with pivoted trailing flights 25 which are disclosed in the above mentioned Mercier application as well as in the patent to A. F. White, No. 2,170,934, dated August 29, 1989. It may be stated that the flights 25 as here illustrated are.

substantially of the so-called solid type but, if desired, skeleton type flights may be employed.

To drive the draft chain 24 there is provided an electric motor 26 which is connected by a chain and sprocket drive mechanism 21 to drive a head shaft 28 on which the head sprocket 23 is mounted. It may also be pointed out that the head section I I includes cam means 29 which tilt the pivoted flights 25 as they travel through the discharge chamber 20 and thus discharge material onto a sloping plate forming a bottom of said discharge chamber 20 over which material will flow by gravity through a discharge chute 30. Attention is now directed to the particular dotted line position'illustrated therein.

'way of chute 32.

structure of the intermediate discharge or special section l5. Said special section l5 includes portions of the working leg l8 and the return leg 2| which have a common dividing wall or partition at their opposite ends or, in other words, at their tops and bottoms as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Between these ends, however, the two legs have entirely independent walls, and the return leg is curved outwardly to provide an appreciable amount of space between them.

The front wall of the working leg I8 is pro vided with a discharge opening 3| which leads to a discharge chute 32. Opposite the opening and on the back Wall of the working leg [8 is a pivoted door 33 which when in the full line position illustrated in Fig. 2 or the" drawings; closes an opening in said back Wall. The door 33 is pivotally attached to spaced*bracketsfl formed on a back plate 35 which is built in the form of a pair of wings constituting lateral extensions of the back wall of said working-leg l8: Said wings may, for example, be welded along the edgesof the leg l8parallel with said back wall.

A pivotal connection for the door-33 is provided by a shaft 36 which'is pivoted in journals provided by brackets 34 and which is rigidly at tached to the door 33. An operating handle 37 is provided'to'swing the shaft 35 and thus'to swing the door 33 either to the full line position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings or to The door 33 is provided on its sides and at its rear with a air of reinforcing plates 38 which are provided with elongated sloping slots 39 adapted to receive piyotedlatches 40. jjOn itsjinside the'dOor, 33 is provided with a chain supporting and'guiding plate 4|, the top and bottom edges of which are curved into contact with the door 33 and are rigidly attached thereto as by welding. Also mounted on the door 33 and exthe 25 .to'a discharging position asthe chainj 24 travels upwardly through the working leg l8 to convey "material therethrough from the feed chute l9 and when the parts are in the positions illustrated in Fig; 2 of the drawings, the material being. conveyed will bedischarge'd by theintermediate discharge or speciallsection l5 and thus be delivered from theelevator or conveyer-by The structure of theqintermediate discharge section [5 is such that-the cams, 4,2,may be removed from the working leg 48 and the; discharge opening 3| as well as theopening'which is nor mally closed by'door 33 closed so that theimaterial will travel through the working'leg I8- within section l5 andbe dischargedbyway of the'discharge chamber 20 and discharge chute in the head section H. In other words, material mayor may 'not be discharged by the special section l5, at the option of the operator. -It is particularly for this reason that-the door 33is adjustable by virtue of its pivotal connection above described and movable to the dotted line position'illustrated in Fig. 2, in which the cams 42 aremoved completely from the working leg I8. I 7 To provide for the "closure of the'opening normally .closed by the door 33 andthe discharge opening'3l, there is provided a pair of ;adjustable gates designated generally by the reference characters 43 and 44. The gate 43 includes a vertically slidable plate 45 which, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, has a lateral extension beyond the vertical side walls of the working leg I 8 and is within the confines of an enclosing box-like extension housing formed by a pairof side plates 46 which are rigidly attached as by welding to the back plate 35. and which cooperate with the chute 32 to provide a discharge chamber which has a width appreciably greater than the width of the working leg l8, as clearly -:illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings.

Vertical sliding movement of the plate 45 is provided by a rack 41 which is rigidly attached to the plate 45 and which meshes with a pinion 48 carried on a shaft 49 journaled in appropriate bearings on sideflanges provided on the fronts of side plates, which shaft 49 is operated by a hand wheel 50. The plate 45 of the gate 43 is .guided *laterally by the aforementioned side plates 48. At its back it bears upon the-front wall of the working leg l8 and lateral extensions thereof which are seen at 5| in Fig. 5 of\the drawings-.- v, p

.To hold the plate 45 against the lateral extensions 5| and against theforward wall of the working leg 63, there is provided a guide rail52 adjacent each side edge thereof,'said rails 52 being supported by top and bottom brackets '53 from the aforedescri'bed side plates 46. Itis evident that by operating the hand Wheel theslide plate 45 may be vertically adjusted either to close the discharge opening 3| or'to open it completely. It is, of course, evident that in order to close said opening by lowering 'the' plate 45, the door 33 must be swung rearwardl toitsdottedlinejposition shownin Fig. 2 of the drawings soas to remove the cams 42 from the working'le'g l8. It may be pointed outfurther thatthe-plate rack 41 and the pinion 48 are preferably enclosed by virtue of a housing 54 which is'mounted 'on'the front wall of the working leg 48.

The gate 44 includes a vertically adjustable plate 55 which is mounted adjacent the rear face of the rear wallof the working leg I8 enemas its silie' edges guided by 'a; paif'of vertical guide plates '55 (see Figs. 3and 5) fwhioh are'spaced rrem the aforedescri bed back plate 35 so that the plate-55 is held in proper position while being vertically adjusted. Said plate"5 5 is provided'witha 'rack 5] which is driven'by a pinion 58 *m'ounted on-"a' the gates 43 and 44 by adjusting the slide plates 45 and 55 together." It is further evident that to .close these gates 43 and 44 it is necessary to ad- .-just or swing the door 33 to the dotted line position, whereupon when the gates are operated the two opposed openings in the front and rearwalls of the working legpor-tion l8 will be closeda nd the conveyer chain: 24 and flights 25 will travel through said working leg portion is in substantially the s-ame m anner; and with substantially the same result as when traveling throngh'a section u h a Se i 1 l The curved return legfportion 2!, of course, provides room forswinging'of the door 33Tt'othe quite clear from the above description, and briefly is as follows. Any granular material to be fed will be delivered to the feed chute l9 and by it preferably directed into the working leg 18 at the feed section l2. The material will be conveyed through the working leg l8 by the travel of the chain 24 and flights 25 and if the intermediate discharge or special section I5 is adjusted to the full line position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the material will be discharged by this section to the chute 32. If, however, it is desirable to discharge the material to the chute 30, the latches 40 will be adjusted to free the door 33 and it will be swung to the dotted line position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and the gates 43 and 44 will be closed as above described. Under these conditions, the special section I5 will act substantially like an upright section I6 and the material will be conveyed through it and then discharged by discharge chute 39 in the head section II.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A casing section including walls providing an enclosing working leg, a discharge opening in a wall of said casing, a door on an opposite wall of said casing closing an opening in another casing wall, a cam on said door extending into said leg, means providing for adjustment of said door to remove said cam from said leg, and means for closing said two wall openings.

2. A casing section including four enclosing walls forming a working leg, a discharge opening in one wall, a second opening in another wall, a pivoted door normally closing said second opening, a cam on said door normally extending into said leg, means for adjusting said door to remove said cam from said leg, and interconnected rack and pinion operated gates for simultaneously closing said openings.

. 3. A casing section including four enclosing walls forming a working leg, a discharge opening in one wall, a second opening in another wall, a door normally closing said second opening, a cam on said door normally extending into said leg, means for adjusting said door to remove said cam from said leg, and interconnected rack and pinion operated gates for simultaneously closing said openings,

4. A casing section including four enclosing walls forming a working leg, a discharge opening in one wall, a second opening in another Wall, a door normally closing said second opening, a cam on said door normally extending into said leg, means for adjusting said door to remove said cam from said leg, and rack and pinion operated gates for closing said openings.

5. A conveyer casing section forming a substantially totally enclosing working leg on opposite sides of a discharge opening in one wall thereof and adapted to confine material scraped therethrough, a second opening in said leg opposite said first named opening, a gate for each opening, and interlocked mechanism for simultaneously opening and closing each gate.

6. A conveyer casing having feed, head and intermediate sections connected .together and forming enclosing working and return legs, said intermediate section having a common dividing partition wall between the two legs at each end and having entirely independent walls for the two legs for a portion between its ends, oneof said legs being curved outwardly between its two ends, and a door on one of said legs swingable toward the curved portion of the other.

'7. A conveyer casing having feed, head. and intermediate sections connected. together and forming enclosing working and return. legs, said FRANKLIN J. LE ROY. 

